Former water board member faces 35 felony counts

Former county water board member Steve Collins will face trial on a series of charges alleging he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from private companies for work he did, or didn't do, while a public official.

Judge Pamela Butler on Tuesday ruled there's enough evidence to support the charges against Collins, who faces 35 felony and six misdemeanor counts ranging from conflict of interest to grand theft and dissuading witnesses. A single grand theft charge was dropped Tuesday.

Collins will be arraigned on the charges Jan. 11.

Prosecutor Stephanie Hulsey and defense attorney Mike Lawrence made their final arguments Tuesday, capping off a five-day preliminary hearing that included reams of evidence outlining the charges against Collins.

Collins is accused of having a financial interest in agreements at the core of California American Water's regional desal project after accepting more than $160,000 from private consulting firm RMC Water and Environment for work he did on the proposal while he was a public official.

RMC was working for project partner Marina Coast Water District at the time, and later won a $28 million project management contract.

The bulk of the charges allege Collins accepted tens of thousands of dollars from former employer Ocean Mist Farms for meetings that he never attended or never occurred based on more than three years of his billings.

Collins is also facing misdemeanor charges alleging he was paid for an official act.

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During Tuesday's hearing, Lawrence reiterated his argument that his client had been entrapped by county officials who recruited him to close the deal on the regional project because of his expertise on water issues and knew he was being paid for his efforts but disavowed any knowledge when the details became public. He pointed out that Collins brought the project to successful approval, the overarching goal of the county, Cal Am and Marina Coast.

But he said the defense's efforts to prove those premises were stymied when the court denied its bid to call public officials to the stand to testify.

The key question, he said, was whether it was fair for his client to be encouraged to work on behalf of the public interest and then face felony charges as a result.

Lawrence also questioned whether Collins could be considered a public official under the legal definition because the county water resources agency board's role on the regional project was advisory.

Lawrence had also tried unsuccessfully to call Ocean Mist officials to the stand earlier in the preliminary hearing to testify about their long-running consulting deal with Collins, which he said would bolster the defense claims that his client never intended to defraud the company, that he provided full value for the money he was paid and shouldn't be held responsible for the generally lax terms of the contract that he argued never required an exact accounting of his work.

In answer, Hulsey pointed out that the defense's bid to mount entrapment and alignment of interest arguments had been rejected by the court, and said the evidence clearly showed the Ocean Mist officials expected accurate invoices from Collins and expressed disappointment about his allegedly "fictitious" billings. She reiterated that Collins was a public official because he served on a water board with broad decision-making powers.

Lawrence could make another attempt to call public officials and Ocean Mist officials to the stand during the trial, but he acknowledged earlier in the preliminary hearing that if the initial efforts were rejected that the court would be unlikely to reverse itself.